Byungchul
Byungchul was a classmate of Dongtae and Eunju, and the closest Dongtae had to a friend. A shy, bespectacled, clever young man who ended up being bullied in his place after Dongtae became a Dicer, Byungchul later became one too, but went progressively unhinged as his quest for Dice to improve himself became more desperate, and was finally cornered by X and died. Appearance Byungchul was a skinny, average-height young man with dark, receding hair and an angular face with small black eyes. Overall, he appeared significantly older than his age, and wore glasses. His expression seemed constantly tense and nervous, even before he started being bullied. As a Dicer, his appearance didn't change, because he chose to deposit points in his strength rather than looks. History Byungchul first appears when the leaders of his class, Hyunjo and his bullies, decide to teach transfer student Taebin, who is a classmate, a lesson, and force Byungchul to block the access staircase to the rooftop while they fight. Later, the reader learns that Byungchul and Dongtae are in talking terms and exchange friendly messages, although they go separate ways most of the time. A message from him asking to choose between two idol posters reaches Dongtae in a bad moment and contributes to his being found by Taebin, in a series of events that results in Dongtae becoming a Dicer. When Dongtae becomes too handsome to be bullied with impunity, Hyunjo dismisses him from his "job" as a bread shuttle and forces it upon Byungchul, who tries to refuse to no avail. In the next few weeks, while Dongtae improves himself further, Byungchul is largely absent from the narrative, but it is clear that he is being bullied mercilessly, despite his best efforts. One day, when Dongtae sees Bowl-hair, a bully from another class, and a couple of henchmen submitting Byungchul to another round of vicious aggression, he decides to act. This is due both to seeing himself in his classmate, and to realising that a quest from X involving removing answer sheets from Byungchul's homework notebook led to the bullying. In any case, Dongtae engages Bowl-hair and the others in confrontation and wins easily thanks to being a Dicer. Instead of being grateful, though, a frustrated Byungchul lashes out at Dongtae, accusing him of being complicit in the bullying by his inaction, and pointing out that all students are fine with one of them being bullied, so long as they themselves escape. (He conveniently ignores that he had taken part in the same behaviour when Dongtae was the bread shuttle). Feeling guilty, Dongtae, to X's surprise, gives Byungchul a single unactivated Die, thus unleashing the chain of events that form the main plot of the story. The next day, Dongtae is surprised by the apparent lack of change in Byungchul when he arrives at school, but he understands why when Hyunjo tries to torment him again: in a fit of rage, Byungchul hits him violently with his left arm, where he has concentrated all the strength points he has piled up on during the previous night. Hyunjo is sent flying against the wall and loses consciousness. Clearly out of his wits, Byungchul advances towards one of Hyunjo's minions, with the apparent intention to injure him seriously or even kill him. Dongtae puts himself between the two and for a moment, it looks as if a fight will break out between the two, but Taebin intervenes and then the side effects of amplification manifest in Byungchul's arm. This has the effect of bringing him to his senses, and he runs away from the room in a panic. Later that day, Dongtae meets him in an empty classroom and, with Taebin eavesdropping, the two have a conversation. Being much brighter and focused than Dongtae, Byungchul was able to find much more about Dice than he in just one night. He tells Dongtae about amplification and reveals he has obtained information to the effect that Dice may grant supernatural skills. He also deduces the existence of skill trees. He is suspended from school, and later that night receives a visit from Taebin. Byungchul has already deduced that Taebin is the likely source of Dice and the cause of Dongtae's change, and uses the opportunity to test, by attacking him, whether he has any supernatural power. However, Taebin is too strong and fast for Byungchul and easily defeats him without having to use any such skill or even admitting to having one. A few days later, Byungchul meets Dongtae briefly outside the school to tell him that he wants to share information about X and Dice when his suspension is over. It never comes to be, though: X knows that Byungchul has hacked into the server he uses to administer Dicers and quests, and decides to take him out. He lures him into breaking into the school, and corners him with specious quests until Byungchul is forced to hang from a fifth floor parapet. At that moment, another wave of amplification paralysis happens and Byungchul falls to his death. In the process, all the unsynchronised Dice he had been collecting scatter over the school grounds and end up in the hands of the students who arrive first the next day. Feeling guilty for having refused quests that might have resulted in his saving Byungchul, and for the fact that his descent into madness was a consequence of Dice, Dongtae helps Eunju to take his belongings to his mother and, while visiting his bedroom, founds his notes on Dice. Dongtae finds out that Byungchul had hacked into X's server, and that this was the probable cause of being terminated by X (although he doesn't know how exactly X framed Byungchul or how much of it was deliberate). He also reads about the existence of several ranks of Dice and reads for the first time the mantra of Dicership: "the first Dice increase human ability; the next Dice change human ability; and the third Dice…" (in the notebook, the sentence is not finished). Abilities A highly gifted, industrious student, Byungchul's skills were concentrated in analytical thinking, mathematics and computer programming. This reflected in his quests: X asked him to hack internet sites and solve maths problems in exchange for Dice. These skills also allowed him to understand much about Dice quickly and to measure the effects of Dice points in his own body. As a Dicer, he concentrated all points he earned into his left arm, and as such developed monstrous strength in it, enough to smash concrete, send people flying and crush hard wood. However, as a consequence of amplification side effects, after some use the arm started to show signs of damage, throbbing and aching intensely, and becoming paralysed for brief periods, which ultimately caused Byungchul's death. Personality On the surface just a quiet, shy bookworm, Byungchul had a rather disturbed mind, as a consequence both of bullying and of shades of parental neglect/hyperdemanding parents. His deepest desire was to escape the constraints of normal society, and for that he pursued Dice relentlessly as a way to acquire ESP powers. His bright mind caused him to consider normal situations from a philosophical point of view. His speech to Dongtae about bullying convinced his friend to give him a Die, and he was quick to realise that all Dicers are mere pawns in X's hands. He was also able to deduce many Die properties just by analysing them and asking simple questions. He was emotionally unstable: normally indifferent to other people, but sometimes showing intense rage. Towards his death, these worsened and he became seriously disturbed in the end, and was easily manipulated by X. Relationships '''Dongtae: '''they were classmates and close acquaintances without being friends. Other than exchanging friendly messages, they didn't hang around much, but Byungchul trusted Dongtae enough to share all his knowledge of Dice with him. '''Family: '''Byungchul seemed to suffer parental neglect and cared little about his family, and expressed annoyance at the noise his parents made while fighting over his suspension from school. Category:Characters Category:Character